Bought and Paid For
by KukaruiValentine
Summary: Ths is a different story on my part. This involves a lovely slave, her loving master and their fight to get free. What happens when Rufus has to sell his slave, and the buyers are the members of AVALANCHE? Will they adjust to the new slave? Will she ever


Bought and paid for.  
  
(A/N: Time for something a little different on my front, I thought of this one on a red eye flight coming home from spring break.   
  
It's just a little off for my tastes, but the idea won't get out of my head so I will write it down and post it in hopes of attracting more reviewers!  
  
Thank you for the ones who follow me and the ones who read my one that was knocked off of FF.net! You guys are dolls! I love you all.   
  
This story has to do with all my normal characters, just A/U. Alternate universe be damned, it is still a very good story. I am warning you now,   
  
there is beatings, blood, gore and some lemon, maybe even some major death. I don't know until I get done with it. It also has to do with slavery,   
  
and the life of a slave in the hands of one Final Fantasy Seven character that doesn't want her to be enslaved. The beatings happen mostly in the   
  
first chapter, when the group is in Junon. Just read it if you like this kind of stuff, and WARNING GRAPHIC MATERIALS AHEAD!!!!!!   
  
DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE THE FOLLOWING, ABUSE, DEATH, BEATINGS, SLAVERY, RAPE, YAOI (possibly) LEMON OR   
  
ANYTHING ELSE THAT IS SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE!!!!!! THIS STORY CONTAINS THAT!!!!!!!  
  
Vincent X OC (Beth)   
  
Rufus X OC (Beth)  
  
Here is the following list of characters and what they are in this story. Keep in mind that this is a serious A/U! (In order of appearance)  
  
Beth: The name shall stay the same, and so shall the looks, but in this one the gentle and kind Beth was sold into slavery when she   
  
was just three months old. She is Rufus' best slave and the one he choices to sleep with.  
  
Mary: The slave girl that befriends Beth and learns to read and write, much to the dismay of the other slaves and her many masters.  
  
Shin-Ra: The headmaster and father of Rufus; owns the farm and therefore thinks that he owns even Rufus' slaves.  
  
Tseng: Second in command in the farm; field hand.  
  
Elena: Shin-Ra's eldest daughter and love of his life, she is spoilt and rotten, always making all the slaves do things that they shouldn't have to do.  
  
Reno and Rude: Farm hands;  
  
Avalanche members: Altered story, but just a little. They are still bound to have run ins with the Shin-Ra crew.  
  
The young, pretty slave with the long silver hair tied back kneeled down in the kitchen making bread. She wore a ratted and  
  
tattered brown gunny sack that hung loosely over her shoulders. Her bright mako filled blue eyes shone in the flames of the fire that  
  
burned brightly. She leaned down and pulled out the fresh loaves of bread from the oven. The young slave looked over at a younger girl   
  
that was mixing something up.  
  
"Mary.." She whispered. "Do you have it?" The young slave girl looked nervously around her shoulder to make sure nobody else was there.   
  
Satisfied with finding no one, she walked over to Mary.  
  
"Yes, Beth. here." Mary handed Beth a slit of paper. Mary was about fourteen years old at her oldest.   
  
She had long greasy black hair that was tied back with a rag. She had small green eyes and was a kitchen worker like Beth was.   
  
They were slaves, slaves when they were born. Beth was twenty and had been a slave all her life. She hated it. She met Mary when they  
  
were both bought years ago by master Rufus. Rufus was a good master and all, but they both had wanted more. Then, Mary learned to read and write.  
  
"So, Mary, what does this say?" She whispered, she had never talked in her full voice before, always taught to whisper.   
  
"It says These slave girls are traveling to Mideel where I will let them stay with some family I have there, please insure their safe passage."  
  
"Oh? Mideel? That is suppose to be such a lovely place." Beth leaned down and put more bread in the oven. Her face was covered in muddy sweat.  
  
"When will we leave?" She whispered.  
  
"NEVER!" Came the sudden booming reply and the fist that brought her hair into his hand. She could suddenly smell his clean, crisp clothes and his  
  
freshly washed hair. "You two shall never leave me!" He pulled Beth up to his face by the hair on her head. He gazed for a moment into her eyes.  
  
She immediately glanced down, not looking into his eyes. He had caught her gazing for a moment though and he threw her down onto the floor.  
  
"You two girls are some of my BEST slaves! I will NOT loose you. I refuse to loose you!" He grabbed Mary by the arm and threw her out the door.  
  
"Follow!" He ordered Beth. She did so.  
  
He drug Mary by the arm to a tree. Mary was sobbing and begging her young master for forgiveness. He picked her up by the arm and tied her   
  
to the tree. Beth stood silently and watched.  
  
"You learned to read, Slave girl!" He tied her legs to the tree, the ones they called the whipping tree, and ripped her clothes off. She was there,   
  
her back towards him, naked as the day she was born. "Learning to read isn't fit for a slave!" He was walking back a stump, and he leaned down and  
  
picked up a bull whip.   
  
"Master, please!" She sobbed, but they fell onto deaf ears. Rufus looked at the other gathering slaves and yelled out, "She learned to read! She learned to write!"  
  
And brought the whip against her back.  
  
Beth gasped and stood there, stalk still for the longest time. She couldn't move, and she couldn't take her eyes off of Master Rufus. He was a man,   
  
a work of pure art.  
  
Mary was sobbing by the time he cut her ropes that held her and let her fall to the ground. Mary crawled over and kissed his feet softly, begging for forgiveness.   
  
"You don't think that I will think that is punishment enough, do you?" Shin-Ra himself sat high on his white Chocobo. He had watched the punishment and  
  
didn't seem to think that it was enough.  
  
"Father, what do you suggest?" Rufus said as the three farm hands and his daughter rode up on their own chocobos.  
  
"Sell them." He said, motioning towards both Beth and Mary, who were now sitting in the dirt. Beth was trying her best to cover Mary from the cold.  
  
"Father, they are two of MY slaves, not yours." Rufus said.   
  
"Do you want your father to put you up on the tree and take that whip to you, boy? Do as you are told!" Tseng said. Tseng was the biggest farm hand  
  
and second in line to father.  
  
"There is a slave auction next weekend at Junon. We will take them there and try to get a good price on them." Shin-Ra said.  
  
"Master." Beth crawled towards the chocobo and kissed her Master Shin-Ra's boot. "Sell me, t'was my idea. leave Mary."   
  
Rufus winced as Shin-Ra kicked the young girl away with his boot. "You will sell them both and make sure they know that SHE," He pointed to Mary,  
  
"can read." He turned to his farmhands and his daughter, Elena and nodded, "We are going to Mideel for a few days. You will have them sold by the  
  
time we return." The others nodded and then they rode their chocobos out of sight of the plantation.   
  
Rufus sighed, he didn't want to admit it, but he liked Beth and Mary. Hell, he loved Beth. Rufus sighed as he heard his father yell over the mountain,   
  
"Punish the other one too!"  
  
Rufus looked at Mary. "Beth. Come into the house tonight with me." He walked towards the house, Beth did follow with her face down. Mary let  
  
out a whimper but Beth threw her a knowing look.  
  
Inside the house, Rufus grabbed her arm, Beth didn't gasp or even look up at him, she just said softly. "Yes Master."  
  
"That's my good slave girl." He sneered at her as he took her upstairs.   
  
It was a dark room, and Beth was thankful for that. She had been her master's plaything' now for several years. Rufus used her almost every night.   
  
She had actually began to enjoy his countless rapes. She looked up softly at her master as he walked into the room and lit one candle.   
  
"You are a good slave, Beth. Honestly, I don't want to sell YOU." He smiled as he watched her strip of her gunny sack dress, she knew what he  
  
was going to do tonight, and he knew it to. "You have been my slave, just mine, for going on how long now?" He lifted her face to look into those  
  
glowing mako eyes.   
  
"Almost ten years Master." She whispered. She looked at his eyes and almost smiled. Although he raped her, starved them all and beat them, overall,  
  
he was a wonderful master, and she was happy that she could please him in any way she could.   
  
"Yes, it has been that long. How old are you Beth?" He said as he sat on the bed to take off his boots.  
  
"Twenty winters." She said as she sat on the side of the bed, ready for what would come.  
  
"Ah, so I see. And how long have you been coming up here with me in the night?" He slid his boots off and sat them beside the bed.  
  
"I think about four winters now, this year will be five." She whispered again as he started to remove his shirt. She couldn't help but gawk.   
  
Her master was good and tanned, taunt and muscular. He must have caught her gawking this time. He gave a small smile and stood up to remove his trousers.   
  
She knew what to do immediately, she leaned down and started to pleasure him, before he would hit her.   
  
"I take it you remember then." He let out a gasp of air. She was good. If she hadn't been his property, just something to own, he would have loved her.  
  
What was he saying? He couldn't love a slave, his father would kill him! And tomorrow he was going to have to sell his prized servant because of something  
  
that she didn't even help do. He leaned back as she continued to mouth him. These five years had helped her know exactly how to make him happy.   
  
He knew that and she knew he knew that.  
  
She looked up at him softly, she would be sold tomorrow and would never see her loving master again. Sure, he beat her, but that was when she was bad.  
  
Most of the time he loved her, he made love to her. She was honored to be his slave of choice.   
  
Rufus had to stop her, he wanted more then just her soft mouth tonight. She looked up with a questioning look when he pulled her away.   
  
"Dear sweet Beth, this is our last night together, and I want to feel all of you." He replied to that look. She looked down, "Yes Master."  
  
"Please, tonight. call me Rufus."  
  
"Master? You mean that?"  
  
"Yes, Beth. I mean that, but tell no one."  
  
Beth nodded, "Yes Rufus," and Rufus caught her lips in a kiss as he pushed her back on the bed for a night of not rape, but actual love and passion.  
  
Mary looked at the clock in their small house. Beth normally came back from the house about midnight, and it was now closer to three in the morning.   
  
"Maybe Master has kept her later because she is being sold tomorrow." She had no idea about how right she was.  
  
Up in the house, Rufus was holding Beth one last time. He sighed, he wanted her not to be a slave and be his wife. What was he saying again?   
  
His father would beat Beth thoroughly and then sell her, forbidding Rufus to ever see her again. He glanced at the woman that rested in his arms.   
  
He loved her with all of his heart. She had done a good job that night of pleasing him, and then he felt something he couldn't remember feeling, her pleasure.   
  
He kissed her head softly and smiled as he curled up to sleep. His father wouldn't return for a few days, so he could let her sleep in his bed.   
  
When his father was home, he would scoff and grumble that his son did that with a slave, and then wouldn't let her stay long enough to sleep.  
  
His father was a different man then he was. Sleep finally consumed him.  
  
The next morning was tough. He was packing the crate that would take his prize, Beth, Mary and seventeen other slaves to the market in Junon.  
  
He sighed and placed his head on the side of the cart. He remembered last night, and the nights before that. He remembered Beth when he first got her   
  
as a slave, and when he first had her as a lover.   
  
"Master." She bowed to him and kneeled down to kiss his feet. They were in his room then. He knew he wanted her. The way he ripped her clothes   
  
off and threw her on the bed, back then she was just an object. Now she was a person.  
  
"Hey!" Another one of the farm hands where tapping him on the shoulder. "You going to Junon today or what?"  
  
Rufus shook his head, "Sorry, I am almost done," He strapped the horse onto the cart and nodded at a job well done. Then came the hard part,   
  
he told himself. Getting the slaves washed up and ready. Well, one anyways. He wanted Beth to be clean, so he told the other slaves that he would wash her up.  
  
He was drawing the water in the bath house as he heard the door open. "Ah, hello there Beth"  
  
She didn't look into his eyes, she didn't want to leave him. "Hello Master."  
  
"Now, what did I say last night? Call me Rufus. And Beth, you may tell me anything at all." He smiled as she striped of her dress and he let the water fill the tub.  
  
"Master, I don't want to leave you, I don't want to leave here." She said, still looking down, "I mean, Rufus..."  
  
Rufus laughed and smiled, she was too kind. "Beth, come here and let me wash you."   
  
She stepped into the tub and sat down.  
  
"Look into my eyes and tell me something." He said as he grabbed the lye soap from the box and lathered up the washrag.   
  
"Rufus... what do you want me to tell you?" She whispered.  
  
"Do....do....you...."  
  
The door to the bath house slammed open, and there was Shin-Ra. He wasn't happy, but then again, he never was. "What are you doing washing  
  
that slave up?" He bellowed.  
  
"Ah, Father. It's a matter of money, people pay more for clean slaves..." Rufus began.  
  
"Then let the other slaves do it..."  
  
"But, Sir, the other slaves would half ass this because they want her to stay."  
  
"Yes, I guess you are right. Better hurry though, it will be a three day trek to Junon and I want to come with you."  
  
"Father!?" Rufus looked into his father's eyes. "What happened to the trip?"  
  
"They are ill, so we returned as soon as we got the PHS call." He nodded. "We leave in an hour." And with that, Shin-Ra slammed the door.  
  
Beth let out a whimper, she didn't like Master Shin-Ra. She loved Rufus. She didn't want Rufus to sell her as much as he didn't want to.   
  
"As I was saying Beth..." He whispered. "Do you love me?"  
  
The words tore deep into Beth's heart and she almost sobbed with happiness. Her heart screamed loudly but her voice remained a whisper.   
  
"Yes, Rufus. But I am merely a slave, property to you." She looked down.  
  
Rufus was torn almost in half by that comment.  
  
An hour later Rufus and his father took the cart towards Junon. There were twenty slaves in the cart, as well as Beth and Mary,   
  
waiting to be sold or traded. The trek would be a long and hard one, and the weather was turning cold already. Beth pray that   
  
she wouldn't be sold so that she could go back with Rufus. She also secretly wished that Shin-Ra himself would freeze to death so that Rufus could set her free.  
  
flashback  
  
"No! NEVER!" Shin-Ra had bellowed at his son. "I will never see a slave set free on my farm as long as I am alive and kicking!" He had hit his son,  
  
blacking his eye.  
  
"But father, she will still work for us! I just want to give her freedom!"   
  
His father had knocked him out cold that night. He woke up in his room, with Beth there, dabbing a wet cloth on his bruised and bloody face.  
  
He had felt the urge to kiss her that night. He did.  
  
End Flashback  
  
The weather got colder as they traveled long into the night. Beth curled up next to Mary to keep the younger girl warm.   
  
She prayed with all her might that she would be free to love Rufus as much more than a slave and master.  
  
Cloud led the group towards Junon, intent on following the mysterious man dressed in black, the silver maned male that threatened   
  
the whole of the planet with Meteor. Cloud walked into the upper city from the elevator and looked at his group members.  
  
"What is that smell?" Cloud looked at the group that consisted of Nanaki, Aeris, Tifa, Barret, Cait Sith, Yuffie, Vincent, Cid and himself.  
  
"You smell it too?" Tifa was covering her nose to try to block out the putrid odor that seemed to fill the air.  
  
"Hey, do you hear that?" Nanaki looked up, his ears were much better then any of his human counterparts. He heard screams and calls.  
  
"Yeah, I think there is a slave auction today." Vincent said cooly. Nanaki looked at him, it took him a moment to realize that Hojo's  
  
delicate tinkering had left the man with above average hearing, aside from other things.  
  
"What is a slave auction?" Cloud looked clueless, it was apparent that he didn't know what a slave auction was.  
  
"Cloud, it is where they sell slaves. People. It's disturbing to think that in this day and age we still have to use other people as work  
  
labor when we can use machines instead." Tifa sighed.  
  
"We could at least check it out, I mean, I have never seen a slave auction before." Cloud looked interested in it.  
  
"And you don't want to Cloud, all those poor bodies reek of no baths, and their clothing stained of blood." Vincent grimaced at the thought  
  
of a slave auction.  
  
"Oh, but someone might have information about Sephiroth!" Cloud countered, he was the leader, and like it or not, if he wanted to see a slave   
  
auction, he was going to see a slave auction.  
  
"We ar'n' on' ta stop ya, Cloud, but I t'ink es bes' if'n we stay away from dar!" Barret said.  
  
Cloud ignored him, he was on his way to see what this slave auction thing was all about.  
  
"Mary..." Beth was awake after a long night of traveling. "Mary... get off of me!" She pushed the younger slave off of her,   
  
and to her shock, Mary fell to the floor. Dead. Beth looked around at the other sleeping and most likely, some other dead, slaves.   
  
She reached down and took Mary's dress and small necklace. Then she looked at her friend and bowed her head. "She has returned to  
  
the planet, she will no longer be a slave."  
  
"Stop here, Father" Rufus was talking to his dad. "We need to check the slaves, it got cold last night." He just wanted to check Beth.  
  
"Very well, throw the dead ones out on the side of the road." His father said, "Then we need to keep moving."  
  
Rufus nodded as he pulled the door to the closed cart open. The smell hit his nose, fresh death and rot. He made a face as he woke each slave.   
  
There were five others dead besides Mary. Beth hoped that with Mary's clothes she would be kept warm enough.  
  
Rufus threw the naked bodies along the side of the road, so some animals may discard of them, then he shut the gate and climbed back  
  
into his seat by his father.  
  
"Onward." His father said. "How many did we loose?"   
  
"A quarter of our stock, five of them"  
  
"Damn" his father said.   
  
The rest of the fifteen slaves arrived at Junon two days later. Beth was afraid. She didn't like the sounds of some of her possible masters and  
  
mistresses yelling. She didn't like the fact that she would never see Rufus again. It was tearing at her heart.  
  
"OUT!" Shin-Ra was pulling the slaves out of the cart like cattle. He threw Beth to the ground, right into a pile of manure. Rufus picked her up,  
  
"Father, let me sell mine the way I wish. You sell yours." And Rufus set off towards his auction house with Beth in tow. One other slave was   
  
there, and Beth knew him to be Master Rufus' boy slave Rick. Rick wasn't one for talking, he came over on the boat from the western continent.   
  
Beth was born into slavery, she didn't even know her parents.  
  
Cloud led the group through the slave auction.   
  
"Ugh, Cloud, can we please GO?" Tifa said. She walked by people being beaten and others that were starving.   
  
"No... this is interesting." Cloud retorted.  
  
"Cloud, this is disturbing." Vincent muttered.  
  
"Hey! Isn't that Vice President Rufus? What does he have there?" Aeris asked.   
  
"Hey Rufus!" Cloud walked up to where Rufus was sitting, he was crying softly.  
  
Rufus looked up quickly at the group, "What do you want? Do you want to torture me some more?" He sneered. Beth sat quietly next to   
  
him, waiting for a buyer.  
  
"No, what are you doing here?" Cloud asked.  
  
"I have to sell my good slave, Beth. My father is making me because she tried to help another slave escape." Rufus looked down  
  
at the silver haired slave and ran his fingers through her locks of hair. "She is a one in a million slave." He sighed.  
  
"Then why sell her?" Vincent spoke up.  
  
"My father will kill her if I don't."  
  
Beth sobbed at his feet, "Master... I would rather die then go to another. Master, please don't sell me, I will behave." She kissed his feet.  
  
"This is horrible," Yuffie said, looking at the young girl.  
  
"Yes, it is. Rufus... how much?" Vincent asked.  
  
"WHAT?" Aeris turned and looked at Vincent, so did Tifa and Yuffie.  
  
"What's your asking price?" Rufus said. Beth kept her head down.  
  
Vincent walked over to the young woman and pulled her to her feet by her arm. He looked her soft body over. "Look at me." He ordered.   
  
She looked down silently.  
  
"Look at him!" Rufus said sternly but quietly.   
  
"I say she is worth... one thousand gil to me." Vincent said.  
  
"What are you going to do with her?" Rufus had to ask.  
  
"Honestly." Vincent sighed, "I am going to set her free."  
  
"Then I will cut you a deal."  
  
"I am listening." Vincent smiled, he was one for a bargain.  
  
"If you keep her until my father dies then bring her back to me, free, not a slave, then I will pay you three thousand gil when you bring her to me."  
  
Vincent was interested. "And?"  
  
"And she costs a thousand now." Rufus smiled, "Which you will also get back."  
  
Tifa had to say something. "Why do you want her back when she is free and after your father dies?"  
  
Rufus turned his head to look at her. "Because I love her and I want to keep her safe. My father would kill and beat her." He held Beth's arm  
  
and turned her around to show off some wounds on her back. "You think I dare strike her? These are my father's doings." He let Beth kneel to his feet again.  
  
"Rufus..." She muttered, kissing his feet.  
  
"There, there, Beth." Rufus touched her head softly, "We shall reunite after a short stay."  
  
"I will take her." Vincent said, fishing a thousand gil out of his pocket.  
  
"I will pay more if you'd like, after you bring her back." Rufus said.  
  
"We will discuss payments afterward, Rufus." Vincent nodded. He already liked the girl. Her body was nice and lean, nice and strong.  
  
"Yes, oh, here comes my father. He will wish to talk to you." Rufus said, looking into Vincent's blood red eyes.  
  
"Mr. Valentine?" Shin-Ra's voice made Beth wince, even though she was already another's property.  
  
"Yes, President." Vincent said politely.   
  
"You bought this?" He grabbed Beth by the long hair and pulled it hard to tell her to stand up. She did without a sound. Aeris looked away. Tifa gasped.  
  
"Yes, Sir." Vincent nodded.  
  
"Be sure to lay down the law with this one, she is quiet the handful." He laughed and threw her to Vincent's feet.  
  
"I am sure I can handle her, Sir." Vincent nodded again and picked Beth up by the upper arm.  
  
"I should hope! Son, how much did she go for?" Shin-Ra glared at Rufus.  
  
"A thousand."  
  
"Not bad, no sir, not bad at all." Shin-Ra laughed as he walked out of sight.   
  
Rufus took one last look at his prized slave. "Beth, you obey them as if they were me, you understand?"  
  
She looked up at him with a tear in her eye, "Yes Master."  
  
"Please, call me Rufus, I have told you that several times." He smiled.  
  
"Rufus!" She threw her arms around him and held back a sob. She was really leaving him, really going away. She didn't want to,   
  
but she knew that she had to, she was bought and paid for.  
  
Vincent watched the young slave sleep. Cid was by his side.  
  
"What are we going to do about this?" Vincent sighed.   
  
"Well, we r' a gonna hafta wait an' see..." Cid lit a cig and inhaled.  
  
"I don't know about this? A slave?"  
  
"Oh hush, you have only had her for about two hours now."  
  
"That's just it Cid, she's been asleep for most of that time. She thinks that I am her Master, and she will listen to me."  
  
"Then Vincent, maybe this is for the best, maybe it will get your mind off of old what's her name."  
  
"Lucrecia." Vincent snarled. Cid laughed and left the room. Vincent sighed and looked down at the girl again. What was he going to do?  
  
Nanaki knocked on the door to the private room of the airship.  
  
"Enter." Vincent replied.   
  
Nanaki walked in and looked around the room, then to the woman laying in the bed of hay. "How is she?" He asked as he sat on his haunches beside Vincent.  
  
"She's fine, sleeping safe and sound. Why do you ask?" Vincent looked at the animal creature.  
  
"The girls wanted to know." Nanaki said.  
  
Vincent fell asleep somehow that night, but he was on the floor.  
  
When he woke early the next morning, he was in the bed and covered up. He wondered who could have picked him up. He wasn't  
  
a light man, after all, his muscle was heavy and so was his claw.  
  
Vincent glanced around the room, where had that young slave girl gone? She couldn't run off. He began to think about what she may have done.  
  
Tifa was waking up and walked into the kitchen, still half asleep. There a sight met her eyes. Coffee, fresh black coffee poured in  
  
several mugs, and a mug of tea. Then she saw the breakfast. Eggs over easy, bacon, pancakes, sausages, ham, toast, biscuits, bacon gravy,  
  
grits, jelly, milk, tea, coffee, juices and the table all set. The kitchen of the Highwind was cleaned and sparkling, hell! There were even fresh flowers at the table.  
  
"Mistress Lockheart." She heard the young girl say as she kneeled to her feet.  
  
"Beth..."  
  
"Mistress?" Her voice wavered ever so slightly, showing a sense of fear.  
  
"Did you do this all?" She said and looked at the girl, "Raise to your feet."  
  
"Yes ma'am... and it's all still very hot." She smiled, handing her a cup of coffee, "Master Highwind drinks tea, correct?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Tifa!" Cloud's voice came from behind her. "Did you make her do this?"  
  
"No Cloud, she did this for us by herself." Tifa turned to see Cloud, Cid and even Nanaki standing in the doorway, shocked.  
  
"Master Strife, Master Highwind and Master Nanaki..." She kneeled, "Breakfast is served. I made tea for you Master Highwind."  
  
Nanaki walked over to the girl and put a heavy paw on her shoulder, "Don't call me master... please,"  
  
Yuffie and Aeris were walking down to the kitchen, Beth stood as she saw them and handed them each cups, "Mistress Aeris and Young   
  
Mistress Yuffie..." She bowed again.   
  
Vincent had seen all of this from his spot, sitting just inside his room, he now stood and walked over to the rest of the group.  
  
Cait Sith was looking at Beth, "Master Sith." She bowed and smiled.  
  
Vincent walked up behind her, she jumped and then fell to his feet, afraid that she had done something wrong. "High Master Valentine."   
  
She mumbled softly.  
  
"Stand" He ordered. He looked around as everyone was eating their fill of good foods.  
  
She stood and looked at him. She wasn't sure what to expect.  
  
"Eat." He said quietly.  
  
"Master, I am not worthy to eat with you."  
  
"You will eat at the table with us, then Tifa and Aeris will help get you washed and dressed into something besides this old rag." He motioned  
  
towards her dress and nodded.  
  
"Yes, as you wish High Master." She took a small plate and looked at Master as she filled it with a few things. She was waiting for him to say something.  
  
"Beth."  
  
She dropped the fork to the bacon, she had only taken one piece. "Sorry Master..." She went to put the food back.  
  
He grabbed her arm.  
  
Flashback  
  
Rufus had Beth up in his room the first night after he had taken' her. She was sound asleep... until.  
  
Shin-Ra himself burst through the door and grabbed up the silver haired slave. She was snapped into alertness by the fact that he was   
  
dragging her downstairs, naked.  
  
Rufus was following him with all his fury and might. "FATHER! SHE IS MINE!"  
  
Shin-Ra grabbed her and tied her to the whipping tree. She sobbed silently because she knew that it wasn't Rufus doing this to her, it was his father.   
  
The ropes dug deep into her skin, causing her to bleed. The ropes themselves were stained a deep crimson before he even walked over   
  
and grabbed the bull whip. He cursed at her and yelled at her and called her every name in the book.   
  
Then he struck. The whip lashed into her soft skin of her back. She let out a yelp and she heard Rufus protest. Shin-Ra struck again and again,   
  
several times, until she was sobbing and begging him to stop. Rufus glared at his father as he cut her down from the tree, letting her fall.   
  
She lay on the ground. She heard Rufus running up to her. Then Shin-Ra kicked her several times.  
  
"Son, you shouldn't waste your time on slaves." He kicked her again. "You are only fifteen years old, not yet old enough to know what to   
  
do with a woman. Now.." he'd kick her twice. "Forget her." He kicked her several more times before going back towards the house.  
  
Rufus ran up to her side and took her head in his hands. She was bleeding He picked her up and carried her to her hut, where he washed   
  
her wounds and carefully mended them as best he could.  
  
She fell in love with Master Rufus after that.  
  
End Flashback  
  
She looked up at her new master, Vincent Valentine, and mumbled, "Sorry, Master, I didn't mean to take so much."  
  
Vincent felt his jaw drop. "Beth... no, take as much as you want... I was just telling you to eat more..."  
  
Beth looked down at the ground, "Yes Master"  
  
Several days had gone by and the group was now in Midgar again. It was morning after they arrived,   
  
and to save some money, they stayed in the Highwind, as usual.  
  
"Hmm...." Cid was reading a paper, what he normally did at breakfast.  
  
"Master Highwind?" Beth was fixing her normal breakfast.  
  
"Oh, Beth... it says here that President Shin-Ra and Vice President Rufus are going to be out and about today.   
  
They are upping security around every place but at Head Quarters, because the two are traveling around together."  
  
"What does that mean Cid?" Tifa was walking into the kitchen.  
  
"Mistress Lockheart..." Beth handed her the normal coffee.  
  
"Thank you Beth. But Cid?"  
  
"It means that Head Quarters will be easy to get into today, then we can wait and see if Sephiroth is there  
  
or if we can gather any information and maybe wait and see how the President is...." Cid answered, reaching into his pocket.   
  
"Damn it all to fucking hell if'n I am out of cig..." Cid began  
  
Beth set some Llama brand cigs by him and refilled his tea.  
  
"Gotta love Beth." He smiled.  
  
"Hmm.... Breakfast smells so good." Cloud came into the kitchen, followed by the rest of the crew.  
  
The day had begun.  
  
Cloud turned his head and looked at the group, waiting for the lone guard to clear.   
  
With the clear signal, the rest of the group ran and joined Cloud at the entrance to Shin-Ra's office. They sat behind plants.  
  
Beth looked at master Vincent, nervously. What where they going to have her do today? 


End file.
